Angels 2010
Wrasse-a-holic
I've been keeping a SW tank since November 2001. I came into the hobby with zero experience in SW, only about 6 months in FW. I went to the my LFS and made a lot of mistakes. I didn't find out about forums til february of 2002. I was the typical rookie and I still am. I bought a complete system from my LFS and probably ways overpaid. My first system consisted of a 80 gallon Jebo(glass with rounded corners) with a stand and a very weak power compact system. I had no idea what i was doing so i paid the store set it up for me. Turboflotor 1000 skimmer(POJ) and a Rio return with rios in DT for circulation. Even after it was set up, i was clueless as to how it was set up. He was very "cavalier" in his approach to SW tank keeping. He sold me about 4-5 different corals day 1, including a dyed pink leather, a goniopora and a few others. Needless to say they are no longer with us, either is the cleaner shrimp he put in. Matter of fact only the purple tang he slod me a month later is still in my tank. With the help of Reef Forums, I learned my mistake and made some changes to my initial setup about 6-12 months later.
I upgraded my lighting to a canopy with my current setup of 2x175w mh on a magnetic ballast(still using same ballast) and 2x65w PC 03 Actinics. I also replaced the rios with a mag 12 for the return and 2 mj 1200s in the DT. I also raised my sandbed from 2-3" to 4-6". Then did tons of research. I kept it nice, but not fully stocked(Maybe 10-15 corals total) and 4-5 fish at a time tops.
In 2005, i moved a couple times and lost pretty much everything in one way or another except my purple tang and a maroon clown. I kind of lost interest and the only maintenance i did was feed the 2 fish, changed the bulbs when they died and clean the front and right side glass until this past May. Now the real story begins.
In May, I replaced my turboflotor with a Vertex IN-100 skimmer and love it. Way better quality and pulls way more gunk from the tank. Also I upgraded my MJ 1200s with the 1600/2100 mod kits I got new test kits and my amm and nitrites were still zero, but my nitrates were 100+. I immediately did a 50% WC, vacuuming the sump and the top layer of the DSB. My levels still didn't seem to move. With some research and the process of elimination, it was decided the DSB was the problem, so i decided to remove it. I did 10 gallons WC twice a week to start, siphoning out a small section of the sandbed. Eventually, it was down to 1-2" with a small section about 5x10" barebottom. Meanwhile I started dosing vodka. I was able to get my nitrates down to 20 and po4 to .5 this way. I slow me WC to once a week. My goal was no3 under 10 and po4 undetectable, so I tried a product i got as a free sample at IE-CFM in SoCal. Big mistake. While the product itself may have been fine, mixed with vodka, i got a terrible bacterial bloom. My levels jumped up to 40 and 1 respectively so i was ticked. I stopped dosing everything and increased the WC. My levels have since gone down to under 10 with salifert or 10-20 with API. The po4 is still there at .5 but that is acceptable to me. I plan to get a reactor when i go back to work in january, or shortly thereafter.
My goal is to have the whole bottom 3/4 of my LR covered in Zoas/palys the sand in the front with 5-10 LPS, mostly acans and the top of the rock with 4-5 SPS, probably a Cap or 2, a few digitatas and 1 prize Acropora.
More to come, including pictures, just wanted to give a short(LOL) history of ME and my experience or lack of. thanks for reading...
I upgraded my lighting to a canopy with my current setup of 2x175w mh on a magnetic ballast(still using same ballast) and 2x65w PC 03 Actinics. I also replaced the rios with a mag 12 for the return and 2 mj 1200s in the DT. I also raised my sandbed from 2-3" to 4-6". Then did tons of research. I kept it nice, but not fully stocked(Maybe 10-15 corals total) and 4-5 fish at a time tops.
In 2005, i moved a couple times and lost pretty much everything in one way or another except my purple tang and a maroon clown. I kind of lost interest and the only maintenance i did was feed the 2 fish, changed the bulbs when they died and clean the front and right side glass until this past May. Now the real story begins.
In May, I replaced my turboflotor with a Vertex IN-100 skimmer and love it. Way better quality and pulls way more gunk from the tank. Also I upgraded my MJ 1200s with the 1600/2100 mod kits I got new test kits and my amm and nitrites were still zero, but my nitrates were 100+. I immediately did a 50% WC, vacuuming the sump and the top layer of the DSB. My levels still didn't seem to move. With some research and the process of elimination, it was decided the DSB was the problem, so i decided to remove it. I did 10 gallons WC twice a week to start, siphoning out a small section of the sandbed. Eventually, it was down to 1-2" with a small section about 5x10" barebottom. Meanwhile I started dosing vodka. I was able to get my nitrates down to 20 and po4 to .5 this way. I slow me WC to once a week. My goal was no3 under 10 and po4 undetectable, so I tried a product i got as a free sample at IE-CFM in SoCal. Big mistake. While the product itself may have been fine, mixed with vodka, i got a terrible bacterial bloom. My levels jumped up to 40 and 1 respectively so i was ticked. I stopped dosing everything and increased the WC. My levels have since gone down to under 10 with salifert or 10-20 with API. The po4 is still there at .5 but that is acceptable to me. I plan to get a reactor when i go back to work in january, or shortly thereafter.
My goal is to have the whole bottom 3/4 of my LR covered in Zoas/palys the sand in the front with 5-10 LPS, mostly acans and the top of the rock with 4-5 SPS, probably a Cap or 2, a few digitatas and 1 prize Acropora.
More to come, including pictures, just wanted to give a short(LOL) history of ME and my experience or lack of. thanks for reading...
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